Drunk at wheel? You could drive into jail

You may not get away with just a fine, if found drunk at the wheel. In view of the increasing incidence of accidents on the Capital's roads, a Delhi court has sent a man to 15 days' jail for drunk driving.

You may not get away with just a fine, if found drunk at the wheel. In view of the increasing incidence of accidents on the Capital's roads, a Delhi court has sent a man to 15 days' jail for drunk driving.

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Holding Manoj guilty of drinking beyond the permissible limit while driving, additional sessions judge JR Aryan said: "The accused stated himself to be around 24-25 years of age. If he was driving on a public place, certainly it was not a first ride."

"How many times he might have driven the vehicle without holding a driving licence and without the vehicle covered by valid insurance policy is for the accused to calculate," said Aryan.

Nearly 65% of around 12,000 road accidents in the national Capital in 2008 were caused by drunk drivers, according to a report prepared by an NGO.

Aryan upheld the earlier order of a metropolitan magistrate who convicted Manoj on February 1 and sent him to jail for 15 days. "There is no reason to differ with the view taken by the metropolitan magistrate on the point of sentence, (it) is not a harsh one," said Aryan, dismissing the appeal of the accused.

Manoj was found driving a motorbike around 8.30pm on January 31 on Barakhamba Road. A breath analyser test revealed 311 mg/100 ml ratio of alcohol content in blood. Then he was detained and produced before the metropolitan magistrate. The magistrate sentenced him to 15 days' imprisonment.